CyberTorah

I say the Prayer for Israel for three key reasons. First, I pray for Israel and its people. I want Israel to be safe and secure, a place that thrives with wealth, security and freedom for all its inhabitants. This prayer has a political dimension because it is in politics that our values get expressed in the real world. Yet unlike political lobbying, prayer is a desire to manifest in the world a true hope. We name something pure and holy and ask for God’s help in evoking it in this world of contradictions, power, and politics.

Right now, I pray especially for God to protect the Israeli armed forces, to keep them safe in all their maneuvers. I pray for the speedy return of the hostages, and for the safety of every Israeli affected by the horrors of the last few months. I pray too that the political leadership of Israel will be guided by deep Jewish wisdom in their managing of this conflict.

Second, I pray  to awaken my own compassion. Naming these specific concerns opens my heart further. I realize that I also pray for the protection of every innocent, Palestinian or Israeli. I am saddened by the death of children. I pray that the children of Gaza who cannot understand the violence, hunger, and devastation all around them to be held safe.

I pray that the IDF acts as surgically as possible both because I want innocent and civilian lives protected and because a soldier who kills an innocent carries a heavy burden for the rest of their lives. I hate the idea of these young people holding a burden of guilt. I hate the idea of innocents being caught up in all the violence and destruction.

Finally, through prayer I turn to God. I turn towards something beyond any of us that can free me to set aside fear and anxiety so that I can hear the cries of everyone involved. Letting go of fear lets me hear differing opinions on how this conflict should be handled because I can now hear the compassion that drives so many people’s views.

I believe everyone in our community wants a thriving Israel. People see different paths that lead us to peace and safety. I can listen and respect those views even when I believe they are mistaken. I can honor the compassion and concern that leads to contradictory views, I can listen with genuine curiosity. I don’t have to agree.

(And our enemies only laugh at us when we fight. The more division among us, the more they rejoice.)

I pray for Israel because it enlarges my heart. May the Rock of Israel bless the State of Israel, guard it and all its people. May God extend a true Sukkah of Peace over that region, and help us to find a way through this conflict to hope and thriving for everyone in that region. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi David Booth

Please note that CyberTorah will be on hiatus for the next few weeks, resuming before Passover.